(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Mon 21 April 2025 10:00, UK
Keith Moon is remembered as an animal, and I mean that literally given that he was reportedly the inspiration behind the Muppet’s own frantic drummer. Smashing up kits worldwide, it was Moon’s crazed and wild style that helped make The Who a sensation and contributed massively to the band’s allure as a high-octane live act that people came in their droves to see. But surprisingly, his own musical taste was much gentler.
That was revealed when Moon came to make his solo album, Two Sides Of The Moon. In 1975, the drummer went it alone, proving his power as a percussionist could translate to other positions as he transformed himself into a frontman. He didn’t, however, transform himself into a songwriter. While he’d contributed to the writing of a handful of songs for The Who, he seemed to just want to do karaoke here and filled the record with only covers.
The track listing is revelatory, though. If songwriting is designed to give us an insight into the artist at hand, Moon’s song choices did the same thing, revealing some of his all-time favourite songs as a look into his musical tastes. Fans might have expected something loud and aggressive, but in reality, what they got was something softer.
That’s especially the case when it comes to the Beatles track he chose to include. The Who were huge Beatles fans, as seemingly every band in Britain at that time was. As the two groups were on the rise around the same time, they became friends and peers, especially Moon, who would later contribute to ‘All You Need Is Love’ as part of the all-star cast on that track.
He’d previously said, “For me, Sgt. Pepper and The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds redefined music in the 20th century,” picking out Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as his favourite Beatles record. But when it comes to his favourite song, his choice is oddly tame, oddly emotional and oddly sober.
On the tracklist for his solo album, he chose to include ‘In My Life’, the band’s simplest and sweetest song. As a track that sees the band reflecting on their hometown and their childhood, it’s one of their most clean-cut and cute compositions; two phrases that would never be used to describe Moon. But still, he loved it.
“I did ‘In My Life’ because it’s a great song,” Moon said, “KRTH (LA’s oldies but goodies station) played it, and it was the first time I’d heard it on the radio in years. It seemed to have gotten lost and I thought I’d take a different approach to it, doing it the way which suits my voice best and the way I thought it should be sung.”
But he didn’t just sing it, he called in a Beatle to help him as Ringo Starr appears on drums like Moon was busy playing John Lennon.
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